Living Amongst the Dead
by madeline.chavez.77
Summary: She was met with icy blue eyes boring into her dull brown ones. Her breath was becoming shallow and she felt like she was no longer in control of her body, "Hey you okay?" The boy asked. She didn't respond, she only felt her breath slow down and her eyes close, bringing nothing but darkness to her. Rated T, may go up...


**Living amongst the Dead**

**A/N: ****_Hi-ya guys! Yes I have written my first Walking Dead fanfic, and I am super excited! I think it came out awesome! And I can't wait to hear from all you Walking Dead fans! WHOO! Who's excited for SEASON 5?! THIS GIRL! Now on to the story!_**

**Chapter 1: In the Beginning…**

She crouched low on the ground, her chest pressing against the ground and her fingers gripping tufts of grass tightly.

Her light faded green shorts were now covered in dried dirt, mud, and blood which made it difficult to tell they were even green. She had a light blue tank top along with a red plaid jacket that was currently tied around her waist, revealing her bare dirty and tanned skin. Her hair was a dark brown mass of dirt and tangles that were put in a ponytail.

She wiped her forehead to rid herself of the sweat that was making its way down to her eyes. She slowly slid her body forward, pausing slightly when the creature ahead of her looked up. She willed her breathing to slow and her racing heart to slow down. If she could just get to the creature and kill it, then she would be able to make a run for it. She behind her and unhooked her hatchet from her belt loops. Slowly and cautiously she stood up. Darting from tree to tree, she gripped the handle of her weapon tightly and took two deep breaths. She could this. It was now or never…and she wasn't going for the latter. Gathering as much strength as she could and without another conscious thought she jumped out from behind the tree and dug the hatchet's sharp edge through the creature's decaying skull.

Blood splattered on her face, arms, and clothes. She shuttered in disgust before jerking the weapon roughly out of the zombie's head. She took a moment to analyze the body, checking for any movement or signs that it might still be alive. Once she had fully confirmed that it was indeed dead, she let out a slow breath. As she stared at the unmoving body, a deep feeling of sorrow began to tug at her heart. Who was this person? Did he have a family? A wife? Kids? These questions dug themselves deep into her brain and she had to force herself to look away before the tears could fall. No use in crying over something that was already gone.

Walking past the body, she leaned against a tree and began to wipe herself clean from the sticky blood using her jacket. She glanced down at her hatchet, the blade was covered with blood, some of it was just barely starting to dry. She sighed and began to wipe the crud off its blade. Looking around the wooded area warily, she figured she was the only one here…well besides the walking dead people.

Figuring her weapon was clean enough, she placed it back in her belt loops and continued walking. She never was one to stay in one place to long, and she had to look for a new place to rest before nightfall. It had been a little over eleven months since she had been living on her own, surviving against these things by herself. Her mind to what it was like before her world burst into flames.

She had been an "A" student, had a pretty good home, and family. Her dad worked from seven to four and would spend a lot of quality with her and her nine week old baby brother, John. Her mother, however, had died at childbirth. When John was born the cord had wrapped itself around his neck and the doctors had to perform a C-section in order to save him. Her poor mother had already been weak from the pushing and the amount of blood she lost had finally broken her. As soon as John was born, and she held him for both the first and last time, she smiled weakly, said his name, and exhaled her breath for the very last time. Her father hadn't been the same since then, he was still a good parent though. He never drunk or smoked, he remained strong for her and John and always made them smile. After a while, she figured that her father had just accepted the inevitable and tried to go along with the new change of style.

But then the attacks started.

She had been in school when the whole thing started. As she and her classmates sat in class listening to a lecture, a loud cry of alarm was heard. Curious as to what happened the teacher told the class to stay put. The door had closed, but it never opened. One minute passed, then two, then five. The students started to get nervous and edgy. Few conversations could be heard, until a sudden loud _bang_ was heard. Startled from all thoughts, the students stared wide eyed at the door.

She felt her stomach twist into knots, something was wrong. _Very wrong_. Standing up, she slowly walked towards the door.

"Sit down!" Some students said, but she didn't listen. The bangs continued and as she neared the door, she could hear strange sounds. Almost like growling animals and screams. Fear began to seep into her as she looked through the glass on the door. She nearly screamed when a body made contact with the glass. She gagged when she saw blood splattered on the once clean glass. She looked towards everyone.

"We have to leave!" She said, "We have to leave _now_!" Not waiting for any talking backs, she grabbed a couple of big scissors from the supply case and looked at her peers, "We need weapons," She said, "something isn't right."

The students nodded and without arguing grabbed whatever sharp object they could find. She signaled for them to be quiet before slowly creaking the door open. She peeked out, nothing could be seen from the left corridor or the one in front of her, but as she glanced to the right, she choked back a scream.

There, huddled in the center of a bloodied hallway was a teacher, or what appeared to be a teacher. They were hunched over something else and eating hungrily from them. She felt the bile rise in her throat as she saw that the object on the ground was another human body. She felt sick to her stomach and almost dropped her scissors. The teacher was eating a person! But what made her feel extremely queasy was all the blood on the walls and the human limbs and intestines that were scattered about. She ducked back into the room and slowly and quietly closed the door. The students looked at her.

"What is it?"

"What'd you see?"

She took in a deep shaky breath, "A teacher…eating the dead carcass of a student." She said. Everyone's face was pale.

"Are you serious?" One boy asked. She nodded.

"Don't believe me?" She said swallowing thickly, "Go look to the right corridor, but _quietly_." She said lowly. The boy glanced around before doing so. A moment later he returned with a blanched face and was about to be sick, "Told you so." She said.

"What do we do?" A girl asked. They all glanced at her.

"Marcy…what do we do?" The boy from earlier asked. Marcy gulped, how should she know? She's never seen one of these…these creatures before!

"We need to get out." She said, "We can't stay in here."

"Yeah, no joke." Another student said.

"There's only one creature…so maybe we can sneak out quietly." Marcy said.

"But to where?"

"The exit is on the left corridor, I'll be the last one to go. You guys head to the exit, but _don't run_. It might attract more. Try to be as silent as possible and don't panic."

"What do we do if we get attacked?"

"Stab the creature, I'm not sure where…but the most ideal thing would be the head or heart. Do both just in case." She said. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"With _what_? We don't have guns or anything!"

"We don't need guns! They would be too loud. Grab anything solid, sharp, or heavy that you can find." Marcy said, "Once we are all out, head straight towards the school's off limit area, I doubt anyone would be there." She said.

"But what if some of us don't make it?"

"We will" Marcy said, she turned and walked towards the door, "Ready?"

"Yes…" Came the nervous reply. She flashed a reassuring smile.

"We'll make it." She said firmly, "I'll make sure we do."

This seemed to help a little as the students perked up a bit and followed her. Gulping, she paused at the door, her hand was trembling, but she had to remain strong…for everyone. Taking a deep and final breath she looked back at everyone.

"Alright, let's go."

Slowly the door opened, Marcy peered out and saw the creature still feasting. She waved her hand quickly, signaling for them to move. One by one they each left the room, silently and quietly. Marcy watched as the all walked slowly and carefully down the hall to the exit. Once they were a good distance away she smiled, they'll make it! But just as she was about to walk, something grabbed her. She yelled loudly as she yanked down. She turned her head to see the grotesque body of the figure that had crashed into the window earlier.

The creature from across the hall had heard the scream and looked up. It spotted her. She nearly froze in terror as it released a loud shriek and ran to her. Grabbing the scissors from her pocket she slammed it into the skull of the creature that was currently holding her and trying to take a bit out of her flesh. Once it had gone limp and go of her, she immediately scrambled to her feet and began running. The creature behind her was growling and snarling as it tried to catch her. She turned the corner and saw the students up ahead. She cursed out loud.

"**_RUN_****!**" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The students looked back and they all yelled as they saw the creature that was now chasing her. She managed to catch with some of them and made sure that no one fell behind. One girl, Peggy Mills, lost her footing and fell to the ground.

"Help!" She screamed. Marcy stopped and ran back. She heard Peggy's high pitched scream and saw that the creature had tackled the poor girl. Not ready to lose anyone, Marcy made a dash for the thing and drove her scissors through its skull. She grabbed the shaky girl by the arm and urged her to run. But before they had the chance, the girl's frightened screams had attracted more of the flesh eaters.

"Shit!" Marcy cursed, "Run Peggy!" She said, pulling the girl along.

"I can't! Marcy I'm gonna die!" The girl said. But Marcy wouldn't have it. The exit was just in front of them, the others had made it out safely and were waiting on the other side. They held the doors open and urged them to go faster. Marcy knew that one of them was going to make it.

"Peggy, whatever you do, don't stop running!" She yelled to the girl.

"What?!" Came the shocked reply.

"Just keep running!"

And then she let go, Peggy paused momentarily and Marcy glared at her.

"You're not dying on my watch Peggy! Now _run_!"

The girl stared at Marcy in horror before starting to run. Marcy looked forward to see more of the creatures, "Hey! Over here!" She yelled. As soon as they had her attention she began to run like hell.

_This was stupid! I'm gonna die_! She thought as she ran. She had to find a place where she could hide, or at least another exit. She took a sharp turn to the right, managing to knock down some creatures. Glancing up ahead, she could see a black object on the floor. Her heart leapt in her chest as she recognized it. It was a gun! One of the guards must've dropped it. Leaning down as she ran, she grabbed the pistol. Turning her upper body to the side, she aimed the gun at one of the things, then she pulled the trigger. The sound resonated throughout the hallway, she had hit the creature dead in the chest, but nothing happened. She frowned and aimed again, this time at the brain. Pulling the trigger, she shot the creature and watched with a triumphant smile as it fell to the ground dead.

"Thank you dad for the gun lessons!" She said out loud. She turned down another corridor before aiming to shoot at another dead creature. She looked ahead to see another exit and smiled. She looked back and saw that she had managed to evade the herd of creatures. She was grateful that she could slow her pace and take a few breathers. No longer running, she listened around carefully for any growls. Until her eyes directed her to another creature that was feasting. She almost cried out in anger. How many of these were there?!

She watched as the creature finished its meal before standing up and limping off to some other place. Waiting for a few moments, she glanced at the dead person. She felt bad that she hadn't been able to save them…until it twitched. She blinked in surprise, that person was dead…right? She thought it had been a trick her mind was playing on her…until the body twitched again. Had the person actually survived that? _Perhaps they passed out from the pain_. She thought curiously. She slowly edged her way towards the figure. She kept a safe distance from them as she inspected the pale body. It was a boy, his insides had been ripped and brought to the surface. A pool of red circled him and she knew for a fact that no human could survive this.

She leaned in closer, trying to see if the figure would move again. Instead of the twitch, she was startled to death when his eyes suddenly flew open as if on command. If you could even call them that. The irises were a snow white with a tinge of yellow filling them. The eyes locked onto her brown ones and she shrieked as it grabbed her by the wrist. She cried out in terror and tugged hard to pull from the creature's death like grip. The said thing slowly lifted its upper body and opened its mouth wide. Marcy replied with a swift kick in the creature's chest and a hard tug. The creature in turn began snarling and growling as it reached desperately for her flesh.

"Help!" She screamed forgetting about the other creatures, "Help! Please!" She begged. She tried in vain to free herself but the creature was relentless. She resumed screaming before suddenly the creature's grip let her go. The sudden loss of force caused her to fall down on her bottom. She gaped with wide eyes and tears as she saw the handle of a kitchen knife sticking out of the creature's brain. Her teary eyes worked their way up to the figure standing in front of her. But she couldn't hear them, everything felt as if it was going by in slow motion. She felt arms wrap themselves around her waist and lift her up like a father would do to their four year old child. She wrapped her legs around the beings waist and her arms around their neck. Her fingers clung tightly to the person's shirt as they began running. As the figure ran, she could see more creature's chasing them and she tried to choke down her scream.

"B-behind you!" She said. The person ran faster and before she knew it, she was placed on a desk in a classroom and heard the scraping of something heavy being pushed. The person was pushing the teacher's desk to the door. Snapping out of her stupor, she jumped off the desk and assisted the stranger in barricading the door. She almost froze up again at the sounds of multiple things pounding on the doors and the hungry snarls and growls that followed, but she willed herself to keep pushing.

After an unbearable amount of pushing the desk, the managed to successfully block the door. Exhausted, she slumped down to the floor. Her body was slightly shaking and took her entirely being to remain calm and not freak out. She almost died. She _almost died_! She fought back the tears and tried to change her thoughts to something else besides the sudden brush with death.

"Thank you." She said softly. She twiddled her fingers nervously as the stranger turned their face to hers. She returned the look and saw that it was a boy, nearly fourteen. Two years older than her. He had soft light brown hair and friendly hazel eyes. His surprised expression changed to a friendly smile.

"Don't mention it." He responded. His voice was smooth and strangely calm. Marcy swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.

"What…what are those things?" She asked him. He blinked.

"You don't know?" He asked her. She shook her head, no. He raised an eyebrow, "Every watched TV?"

"Yeah," She said.

"Ever watch horror movies?" He asked. She made a face and crinkled her nose slightly.

"I don't like scary things," She replied. He pursed his lips and nodded his head slightly. He chuckled a little.

"Well, aren't you lucky..."He said softly. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Why is that?" She asked him.

"You're still innocent," He mumbled, "Those things out there…are zombies."

"Zombies?"

"Yup. They were once living, but they got infected and now they are back from the dead. I call them Walkers," He said. She looked down at the floor.

"I called them creatures," She said. He chuckled.

"Pretty cool name," He told her, Marcy smiled slightly, "So you got a name?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah. I'm Marcy." She said. The boy cracked a wide grin.

"Well Marcy, I'm Jackson," He replied. She felt calm that she found someone who at least gave her a small bit of comfort. That is until she remembered something.

"My classmates!" She cried out. Jackson stood immediately when he saw her stand up.

"Who?" He asked.

"My classmates, I had told them to wait for me at the off limits station!" She said, she muffled a cry and covered her face with her hands, "Oh for crying out loud! I hope they're not dead!" She sobbed. Jackson blinked before smiling.

"Were there about twenty-three of you guys?" He asked her. Marcy sniffled and looked at him.

"Yeah." She said. He smiled and kneeled down to meet her eye level.

"Relax Marcy, I made sure they arrived safely. They're waiting in the tower. I cleared it out for them before coming to get you," He told her. She felt her heart beat with relief and she wrapped her arms around the boy.

"Thank you!" She cried, "Thank you! Thank you!" Jackson smiled softly before hugging her back.

"Don't mention it." He said. They resumed their seat on the floor. It was dark outside and the pounding and growls had subsided. Marcy drifted off into a dreamless sleep as Jackson smoothed back her hair gently, reassuring her that everything was ok.

**_And that's a wrap! So I've been obsessed with the walking dead and I am so hyped up about season five coming out! This story came to me randomly and I am so excited to write it! I hope you guys enjoy it! It took me a whole freakin week just to get the whole thing written and finished :P ugh…the things I do for people ;) jk! Well hope to hear from you guys!_**

**_Laterz!_**

**_~Madeline =)_**


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